Conference Theme: Case Study

Transcription

1 Quantification of the Environmental Burdens of Two Alternative Approaches for the Wastewater Treatment by Applying LCA: Revamping of an Existing Plant and Construction of a New Plant Conference Theme: Case Study Erika Germiniani (AECOM Italy Italy) Luca Zampori (Politecnico di Milano Italy) Giovanni Dotelli (Politecnico di Milano Italy) Giorgio Bianchi (Syndial SpA Italy) The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September 17-19

2 Agenda Using Quantification to Develop Sustainable Solutions Tiered approach Why Life Cycle Assessment was selected Define Study Goal and Scope Establish System Boundaries: Revamping of a Wastewater Municipal Treatment Plant and Construction of a New Plant Life Cycle Inventory Life Cycle Impact Assessment results LCA Decision making The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

3 Using Quantification to Develop Sustainable Solutions Footprint Analysis Free Easy to learn Focused on CO 2, NO x, SO x, PM emissions, and energy Database prepared for the commonly used tools Life Cycle Assessment License required Significant knowledge of LCA Robust analytical capabilities: estimation of a full range of environmental effects Quality assured and referenced database The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

4 Tiered Approach DESIGN COMPLETE PROJECT CONTINGENCY ENVIRONMENTAL BURDENS QUANTIFICATIONS 100% 60% Construction Documents Design Development 0% 20% ~ 100% LCA Feasibility Study 0% 50% FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS 0% The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

5 Why assessing the impacts using the LCA methodology 1. The Owner of the Site was intended to revamp an existing municipal wastewater treatment plant and designed the revamping sections (60% design development) 2. The Authority suggested the construction of a new treatment plant to clean up the contaminated water coming from the site. The Refinery designed the new plant (60% design development) 3. The Authority suggested to evaluate the sustainability of the two treatment options. 4. The project design stage was sufficient to apply the Life Cycle Assessment methodology to compare to the two waste water treatment options 5. The LCA was performed by the University Politecnico di Milano according a cradle-to-gate perspective 6. The Impacts were assessed using SimaPro7.3.3, according to ISO : The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

6 Define Study Goal and Scope The LCA was performed to evaluate two Alternatives to clean up the Wastewater coming from the Refinery: ü Plant flow rate : 500 m 3 /h ü Design complete: 60% design phase Alternative A Construction of the revamping sections Revamping of an the existing municipal wastewater treatment to remove some additional contaminants type in addition to the ones already removed by the existing plant Alternative B Construction of a new plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

7 Establish System Boundaries: Plant Revamping System boundary SEA Italian Regulatory Plant discharge limits: SW: discharge into surface water The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

8 Establish System Boundaries: Construction of a New Plant System boundary SEA SEA Italian Regulatory Plant Discharge Limits: SW: discharge into surface waters GW: discharge into groundwater The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

9 Life Cycle Inventory LCI is the accounting method used to track the input and output material and energy flows associated with the following step of the processes: Pre-Use Phase: plant construction In-Use Phase: water emissions, air emissions, chemical consumptions, waste production (time frame: 20 years) Post-Use Phase: plant decommissioning was not considered PRE- Use Phase IN-Use Phase POST- Use Phase The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

10 Life Cycle Inventory The following unit processes have been considered: Construction of the plant/revamping section Land occupation Resource consumptions (electrical energy, natural gas, industrial water, liquid nitrogen) Chemical production and consumption (hydrochloric acid, caustic soda, ferric chloride etc.) Activated carbon filters Off gas emissions Treatment of solid waste, GFH filters and activated carbon Sea water emissions: the new plant should be in compliance to the regulatory discharge limits into groundwater, whereas the existing municipal plant, therefore the revamping option, should be in compliance to regulatory discharge limits into surface water The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

11 Life Cycle Inventory Data Quality Metals and Hydrocarbon concentrations in sea water emissions New plant Revamping plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

12 Life Cycle Inventory - Data Quality The two alternative treatment process are at design phase: Primary data Secondary data Estimations of quantities provided within the planning documents for: Resource consumption Chemical consumption Air emissions Sea water emissions Waste production Ecoinvent database The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

13 Life Cycle Impact Assessment: Methodologies Selection The choice of the most suitable LCIA methodology is case-specific. No methodology includes specific guidelines on which impact categories have to be included in LCA. Recommendation regarding choice of impact categories is to include all the impact categories for which international consensus has been reached The aim of any LCA must be to ensure that the results are robust enough to form a basis for further considerations or for a decision. The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

14 Life Cycle Impact Assessment The impact assessment results were referred to 1 m 3 of treated water Treatment plants options have been compared by applying the following methodologies: ReCiPe H Midpoint and Endpoint Eighteen robust midpoint indicators Three endpoint indicators Greenhouse Gas Protocol The most widely used international accounting tool to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

15 Results ReCiPe H-Midpoint RECIPE H- END POINT Revamping plant New plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

16 Results ReCiPe H-Midpoint No human and marine toxicity Revamping plant New plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

17 Results ReCiPe H-Endpoint Endpoint Damage category Unit New plant Revamping plant Difference Human health Daly 1.91.E E % Ecosystem Species/year 4.28.E E % Resources Surplus cost 2.51.E E % Single Score RECIPE H- ENDPOINT Unit New plant Revamping plant Difference Score % The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

18 Results Green House Gas Protocol (Carbon Footprint) Revamping plant Revamping plant New plant New plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

19 LCA Decision Making Human toxicity and marine ecotoxicity are the primary impacts: v Human toxicity, related to DIOXINE air emissions, is almost the same among the two alternatives v Marine ecotoxicity, related to COPPER content in water emissions, is higher for the new plant options. The new plant doesn t remove copper since its concentration in water IN are higher than the required limits (GW threshold). The most important impacts are related to air and sea water emissions The plant construction doesn t cause significant impacts For 15 of the 18 impact categories evaluated by applying ReCiPe methodology for the impact assessment, the revamping plant option causes generally lower impacts than the new plant The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

20 QUANTITATEVELY ROBUST Decision Making Robust methodology and result can support the selection of the most sustainable process Given the project stage level (60% design) the LCA was a robust methodology to compare the two treatment options The LCA allowed the quantifications of the primary impact units process: air and water emissions The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September

21 Questions? Erika Germiniani Giovanni Dotelli Giorgio Bianchi The 3 Sustainable Remediation Conference Ferrara (Italy), September